Sunday, January 23, 2011

“I don’t know why girls want to be skinny and anorexic-looking. I like curvy girls.”

“Guys like girls with curves.”

“Being TOO skinny isn’t attractive to men.”

“Girls need a little junk in the trunk.”

“You should eat, a little meat on your bones looks good.”

I keep hearing this from men. It comes up every time the issue of body acceptance occurs in any way, or even seemingly out of the blue. They seem to think that they’re ‘helping’ in some way by making these statements, that they deserve pats on the backs or cookies for such an ‘enlightened’ view. They seem to expect me just about gush about how RIGHT they are and how GREAT it is to hear a guy say that.

Know why I don’t?

Because it’s not about what men want. Dear guys, I know this flies in the face of everything society tells you about the goals and motivations of women, but it is not about you. The issues of body acceptance--for ALL bodies, not just the ones YOU find attractive, whether those are skinny or curvy or whatever--cannot be boiled down to ‘girls just want guys to like them so they try to be skinny’ and definitely should not be followed, which it usually is, with the additional statement that men like “curvy” women to begin with. There’s a whole lot of fallacy packed into this. Firstly, not all women are attracted to men. Secondly, not all men are attracted to women. Thirdly, those men that are attracted to women are not all attracted to the same body type. And fourthly, thanks for the implication that eating disorders and body image issues is all just our own fault being ~*silly*~ and must be just us poor clueless womenfolk not realizing we already have the body to please men--or at least the male speaker. Yup, this is just about women wanting to please men and getting mixed up about how to do it! But now we’re saved, because a man has assured that he likes curves! Hallelujah!

Oh my god, shut up.

There are a million fucking things that go in to anorexia and bulimia than the idea that men want thin women and we should answer that call. I would say that’s NOT part of it--it definitely is, and we are definitely told that we need a man and don’t deserve one if we aren’t pretty (read: thin) enough. But it’s also that the ‘average’ women we are presented with in our shows, our magazines, every ounce of media we are bombarded with every day, is someone who is being presented as normal yet is, by societal standards, incredibly gorgeous and extraordinarily slim. Take a look at your favorite shows. How do the female characters look? How do the male characters look? Which gender gets to be old, to be fat, to have a facial scar? I love Law & Order SVU, but Olivia could not get away with being Munce’s age and expect to be a regular character on that show. If Danny DeVito and Jack Black were women, they would not, in all likelihood, have been able to make it where they are today, even with twice the talent, and if they had, their bodies, and their worth as human beings, would be judged mercilessly by the public eye. Fat men are seen as having failed at fitness, but fat women are seen as having failed at being people.

And sometimes it’s not even about being thin. Sometimes its about wanting some control over your life or your body in a world where both have been taken out of your hands. Sometimes it about wanting some kind of agency over your body after someone took that agency away by force. Sometimes it’s about punishing your body for having been what that someone used to hurt you. Sometimes it’s about trying to make your outside look as frail and fragile as you feel inside because that is the only way you feel allowed to convey your feelings. Sometimes, dear men, it is not about what you and your cock want from us. And when it is, the solution is NOT to assure women that they are fine the way they are because YOU like them. That just maintains the idea that we need approval for our bodies at all, that the way we feel about our bodies should be dependent on how much they please other people instead of if they’re healthy, not to mention the idea that women should be striving for the approval for men in particular.

You like curvy women? Great. You wanna say what you like? Great. But when you phrase it as if it’s the fucking answer to all anorexia ever, you need to sit the fuck down, shut the fuck up, and get some fucking perspective about just what you’re implying when you basically say that because you prize this body type, women should have it, no matter WHAT that body type is. Don’t tell me shit about what my body “should” have, whether it’s curves or a big butt or a little belly or zero percent body fat. I didn’t ask you. I don’t need your permission. I don’t need your advice. I don’t need your approval. I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU THINK AND IT PISSES ME OFF YOU SEEM SO SURE THAT I AND MY VAGINA DO.

(Oh yeah--and some of us don’t have curves because that’s how we are. I really appreciate all the implications that we’re undesirable or only have these bodies because we MUST be sick and starving ourselves. Fuck you again, my “womanliness” (whatever the hell that is) is not defined by my hips being wide anymore than it is by the number on the scale being low.)

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

The title says it all. . .almost. Here are some ground rules about the blog's new policy.

By sending me your photograph, you are certifying:

That this is your photo and you own the rights to it.

That you are giving me the rights to use this photo however I see fit.

Most importantly, you are legally certifying that you are OVER 18.

Photographs should be .jpg images in the site's format: taken from the neck-down with one picture of the front, and one of the back. You can pose however you want, and with as many people as you want, as long as it's not obscene. Use common sense. I've found the best photos (the ones that are the most expressive and compelling) are usually the ones of people standing naturally, letting their body language do the talking.

I recently heard through the grapevine that a distant acquaintance of mine had expressed absolute horror over this blog, because she believed that I was promoting, glorifying even, an "unhealthy" lifestyle and "unhealthy" bodies. But what exactly is health? Let's take a look.

If you think that fat people are disgusting, and should be excluded from media in favor of thinner, more "attractive" people, that's unhealthy.

If you think "fat" is an insult, that's unhealthy.

If you live on a diet of cottage cheese and yams to maintain your weight, that's unhealthy.

If you feel jealous and embittered every time you see a skinny girl, that's unhealthy.

If you assume that all fat people eat their feelings, are lazy, smelly, or any other fat-phobic stereotype, that's unhealthy.

If you assume that all skinny people are starving themselves, anorexic, or using drugs, that's unhealthy.

If you fixate on your "flaws," that's unhealthy.

If you hate when people compliment your body, that's unhealthy.

If you hate looking at your body, that's unhealthy.

If you feel anything but love and acceptance for you body, that's unhealthy.

What our culture defines as "health" is unhealthy. It is an empty, evil, insane cycle that keeps people too busy to actually think. How many people do you know that are the "perfect" size but still unhappy? "Perfect" at what cost? Heck, celebrities (you know, the people who are supposed to embody the ideal? the ones on the covers of the magazines that we compare ourselves to?) are infamous for being miserably unhappy and self-destructive. I'm not promoting any particular body shape on this blog. I'm promoting body love. Because trust me: you can fix the outside a lot easier than the inside.

Mission Statement

The Stripped Project exists to provide a fair representation of real beauty in hopes of repairing the damage done by the skewed depictions of the human (especially female) form in traditional media.

Manifesto

These photographs are neck-down only, front and back. These models and their photographs are un-"enhanced” and unedited in any way. These photos are not meant to be attractive or perfect or sexy, though they may be. They are meant to be honest. If traditional art is the idealized depiction of "beautiful" forms, then this is an anti-art project. This project is a protest against the current domination of pre-packaged beauty and conformist aesthetics. It is a celebration of the human form. The purpose of this project is to promote discussion. This is part photographic catalog, part documentary, part cultural commentary, part political statement, but mostly it is a revolution.

READ ME: The Stripped Project is now taking submissions!

Here are some ground rules about the blog's new policy.

By sending me your photograph, you are certifying:

That this is your photo and you own the rights to it.

That you are giving me the rights to use this photo however I see fit.

Most importantly, you are legally certifying that you are OVER 18.

Photographs should be .jpg images in the site's format: taken from the neck-down with one picture of the front, and one of the back. You can pose however you want, and with as many people as you want, as long as it's not obscene. Use common sense. I've found the best photos (the ones that are the most expressive and compelling) are usually the ones of people standing naturally, letting their body language do the talking.